PRE8BYTEBIAJT& 



680 



come to tho conclusion that closer onion was 



iMc, mid hml discovered n>i iva>ou why it 

 should not bo brought about. They believed, 

 ho\\,\,T, tliat it >hould nut ho pressed to a 

 roneliiMi'ii, liut should take place by general 



;it of each Church, and were not prepared 



Minuend any scheme of union. The com- 

 mittee appointed to confer with a committee 

 of the- I nited 1'reshyterian Church had not 

 obtained communication with that body, and 



. ontiinied. Tho committee appointed at 



:v\ iollS Itclleral Assembly to cnll-i'liT 



tlie .sul'ject of a federation of all Presbyterian 

 bodies i-i ported that they had held a meeting 

 in New York City, during the Conference of 

 vantrelical Alliance,' in October, 1873, at 

 which intlueiitial members of the Presbyterian 

 Churches of the United States, tho Dominion 

 of Canada, and several countries of Europe, 

 present; that they found tho idea of tho 

 proposed federal union, and of a pure Presby- 

 terian convention with that end in view, cor- 

 dially approved; and that they had prepared a 

 eircular letter and sent it to thirty-five Presby- 

 terian bodies in Europe and America, inviting 

 them to appoint committees, by whom the 

 details of a general convention might be set- 

 tled. They recommended the appointment of 

 a committee to correspond with other commit- 

 tees on the subject. Their action was approved, 

 and their recommendation was adopted. 



II. PEESBTTEBIAN CiruBcn IN THE UNITED 

 STATES (SOUTHERN). The following is a com- 

 parative summary of the statistical reports of 

 this Church for 1873 and 1874 : 



SUMMARY. 



Synods 



Presbyteries 



Ministers and licentiates 



Candidates for the ministry 



Number of churches 



Licensures 



Ordinations 



Installations 



Pastoral relations dissolved 



Churches organized 



Churches dissolved 



Ministers received from other denomi- 

 nations 



Ministers dismissed to other denomina- 

 tions 



Members added on examination 



Members added on certificate 



Whole number of communicants. 



Churches not reporting (exclusive of 

 Synod of Missouri) 



Adults baptized 



Infants baptized 



Children in Sabbath-schools 



1878. 



11 



67 



938 



209 



1,583 



42 



31 



61 



41 



05 



7 



5JOO 

 1,878 



93,903 



84 



1,686 

 8,188 



M.710 



18T4. 



12 

 64 



1,056 

 109 



1,764 

 63 

 45 

 66 

 35 

 49 

 10 



8 



7,129 

 8,H 



78 



2.017 

 4,249 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in the United States met at Colum- 

 bus, Miss., May 21st. The Rev. J. L. Girar- 

 deau, D. D., of Charleston, S. C., was chosen 

 moderator. Commissioners were present from 

 the presbyteries of the Synod of Missouri, com- 

 monly called the " Declaration and Testimony " 

 Synod. They were received with a resolution 

 of congratulation on the consummation of tho 

 reunion of which their presence was taken as 

 a sign, and their names were at once enrolled 

 VOL. xiv. 44 A 



on the list of members. Several questions con- 

 corning tho relations of th..- Southern 1'rosby- 

 terian Church with other Christian bodies 

 were discussed and acted upon. Tho paper 

 adopted by tin- Northern General Assembly of 

 1873, with other documents bearing upon tin- 

 subject regarding its relations with the South- 

 ern Church, was laid before tho General A-- 

 Bombly early in the session, and relVn-.-d to a 

 special committee. The committee mad. 

 port reciting the previous transactions of the 

 two General Assemblies in respect to the open- 

 ing of fraternal relations, and proposed the fol- 

 lowing answer to the overture of the Northern 

 Assembly. It was adopted : 



But now, in reference to this renewed proposal al- 

 ready referred to, this Assembly does hereby again 

 agree to appoint a committee consisting of tone 

 ministers and two elders, whose duty it snail be to 

 meet with the committee appointed by the Northern 

 General Assembly at such tune and place a* may be 

 designated by the chairmen of the committees, and 

 enter into full conference concerning the removal of 

 these causes which have heretofore prevented fra- 

 ternal relations between tho two Churches. 



Inasmuch, however, as it appears that the instruc- 

 tions given to its committee by our Assembly of 1870 

 were made a ground of objections by the other party, 

 this Assembly, with a sincere desire " to follow tfie 

 things which make for peace, and things wherewith 

 one may edify another,'' yields to the wishes of the 

 Northern Assembly in this particular, and appoints 

 its committee without any special instructions, only 

 requiring that the result of the conference shall be 

 reported to our next General Assembly for its judg- 

 ment thereon. 



In order to prevent misapprehension, whether on 

 the part of our own people or of others, as to the 

 purport and scope ol any negotiations which may 

 arise from the step here taken, the Assembly feels 

 that it is due to itself and to candor to state explicit- 

 ly that an organic union with the Northern Assem- 

 bly is not contemplated in this action, it being our 

 deliberate conviction that the agitation of that sub- 

 ject would tend to retard and not to promote the 

 formation of those" closer fraternal relations" which 

 we understand the communications now before us to 

 propose. But, on the other hand, the Assembly as 

 explicitly declares the readiness and desire of our 

 Church, both of our judicatories in their official ca- 

 pacity, and of our people in their social Christian 

 intercourse, to welcome to full and equal fellowship 

 with ourselves, in the privileges of the gospel and 

 labors for the extension of our Redeemer's kingdom, 

 all those who, holding the same great principles of 

 evangelical doctrine and ecclesiastical polity which 

 we hold, are willing to cast in. their lot with us by 

 entering our communion. 



A separate report was submitted by one 

 member of the committee declining official in- 

 tercourse for the present. Afterward a pro- 

 test signed by twenty-three members of the 

 Assembly was presented against its action in 

 appointing a committee of conference, and was 

 spread upon the record without answer. 



The committee appointed by tho previous 

 General Assembly to confer with a committee 

 of the Genera 1 Synod of the Reformed Church 

 in America, respecting the establishment of 

 closer relations between the two denomina- 

 tions, reported the results of the conference 

 and the plan of cooperation which had been 

 agreed upon by the two committees. [The 



