PRESBYTERIANS. 



PROCTER, BRYAN W. 



89? 





another, thin Confederation IB not meant to separate 



tin-in iii any way from other Churchr* which hold by 



Hood, with which Churches it will always 



8. Tin* Confederation does not propoBo to form or 



adopt n new Cunti-i-iion of Faith, but will require 



* 'liuroh proposing to join it to submit its creed, 



and 'will admit only tho Churches whose creed in 



:. fortuity with 'tho coiuentut of tho Koformed 



lies. 



4. It shall not interfere with tho Internal order and 

 dir>cipline "I'll Cluiroh. 



"-. It shall hold from time to time a General Coun- 

 .iipom-d of representatives of all the Churches 

 constituting the Confederation. 



6. The representatives of this Council shall always 

 consist of an equal number of ministers and elders. 



7. Tho General Council shall take up only such 

 subjecU a have been committed to the Church by 

 her grout Head. 



8. The General Council shall seek to guide pub- 

 lic sentiment aright in various countries by papers 



i>y addresses delivered, by information col- 

 . in order to publication, by the exposition 

 of sound scriptural principles, and defenses of the 

 truth. 



9. Tho decisions come to by the Council shall be 

 laid before the several Churches, and be entitled to 

 receive from them a respectful, prayerful, and care- 

 ful consideration. It will labor to promote the unity 

 and harmony of the Churches. 



10. It will ever rejoice to support weak and strug- 

 gling Churches which have to carry on their opera- 

 tions amid infidel or anti-Christian opposition. 



11. It will defend by all lawful means those who 

 in any country are persecuted for conscience' sake. 

 It will strive to procure for the Churches that free- 

 dom of government and of action which Christ has 

 given to nis Church. It will employ all moral means 

 no to distribute the missionary work in the foreign 

 field as to secure that missionary enterprises do not 

 interfere with or hinder each other, that missionaries 

 be sent to every nation, and our Lord's command 

 fulfilled by the Gospel's being preached to every 

 creature. 



12. This Confederation will encourage the Church- 

 es to combined effort to provide for the religious 

 wants of great cities and other destitute portions of 

 the home field. 



13. It will press upon all the Churches the impera- 

 tive duty of securing the adequate instruction of the 

 young in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 

 ments. 



14. It will make every effort to preserve the Sab- 

 bath as a divine institution, fitted to convey so many 

 blessings, temporal and spiritual. 



15. It will endeavor to combine the Churches in 

 their efforts to suppress intemperance, and the other 

 great prevailing vices of the age, and generally to 

 promote the moral improvement and elevation of 

 mankind. 



16. It will aim to foster among Christians sys- 

 tematic beneficence for the furtherance of Christian 

 objects. 



17. It will make systematic efforts to meet pre- 

 vailing forms of infidelity all over the world. 



18. It will seek to combine the Protestant Church- 

 es in opposing the errors and inroads of Romanism. 



19. In order to organize the Federation, a commie- 

 tee shall be appointed to correspond with the com- 

 mittees of the British Churches throughout the world 

 holding the Presbvterian system. 



20. This committee, in correspondence with the 

 committees of the British Churches, shall call a pre- 

 paratory meeting of the committees of all the 

 Churches joining in the Confederation, to be held in 

 London or elsewhere, in tho year 1875. 



21. This preparatory meeting is expected to agree 

 upon, and circulate in proof, a constitution of the 

 Confederation, to bo laid before a General Council 



of the Federal Churches, to bo held, if pOMlble, in 

 t-ar 1B76. 



Thin preparatory meeting nhall agree upon a 

 provisional plan of repress ., upon the 



number of deputies to be scut by each Church to the 

 first General Council. 



A meeting of committees of the Britinh 

 Presbyterian Churches was held in Edinburgh, 

 in November, for tho discussion of the same 

 subject. Their conclusions were also favora- 

 ble to the scheme. A meeting has been ap- 

 ]><>intud to be held in London, July 21, 1875, 

 to which have been invited delegates from all 

 Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain, Amer- 

 ica, tho Continent of Europe, tho British colo- 

 nie*, and elsewhere. 



The Rev. Samuel Jennings Wilson, D. D., 

 Moderator of the Northern General Assembly 

 in the United States, was born in Washington 

 County, Pa., and was at the time of his elec- 

 tion fifty -five years of age. He was graduated 

 at Washington College in 1852, and at the 

 Western Theological Seminary in 1855. He is 

 pastor of tho Sixth Presbyterian Church, in 

 Philadelphia, and Professor of Church History 

 in the Western Theological Seminary. He 

 gained a literary reputation through his ter- 

 centenary oration on John Knox, which was 

 first delivered in Philadelphia, in 1872, and 

 which has been since repeated in several of the 

 large cities. Dr. Wilson had been a member of 

 a General Assembly but once before, in 1859. 



The Rev. J. L. Girardeau, D. D., Moderator 

 of the Southern General Assembly in the United 

 States, has been for many years pastor of the 

 Zion Colored Presbyterian Church, of Charles- 

 ton, S. C. At the time the proposition for the 

 organization of separate Colored Churches was 

 under discussion in the Assembly, Dr. Girar- 

 deau said that when his attention was first 

 directed to the subject of foreign missions, he 

 had determined to give his life to the heathen 

 in his own country. After the adjournment 

 of the Assembly the Zion Church decided to 

 accept a separate organization, as provided by 

 the Assembly's plan for the formation of col- 

 ored presbyteries. This action was under- 

 stood to require the retirement of Dr. Gi- 

 rardeau from the pastorate of the Church, as 

 it was expected that they would be served by 

 a minister of their own color. 



PROCTER, BRYAN WALLER ("BARRY 

 CORNWALL "), an English poet, born in Wilt- 

 shire, in 1787 ; died in London, October 5, 1874. 

 His family was in comfortable circumstances, 

 and he was educated at Harrow School, where 

 he had Byron and Sir Robert Peel for school- 

 fellows. He was for some time in a solicitor's 

 office in Calne, Wiltshire, but, as a gentleman 

 of fortune, was in no haste to enter a profes- 

 sion. Eventually, however, he studied law in 

 London, and was called to the bar at Gray's 

 Inn in 1831. Not long after he was appointed 

 a commissioner in lunacy, a lucrative office, 

 which he held until 1861, when he resigned, 

 and John Forster, the political essayist, was ap- 

 pointed his successor. But long before his ad- 



