PRESBYTERIANS. 



643 



The statistics for 1874 are also given for com- 

 parison : 



The missionary force consisted of twenty- 

 seven ordained missionaries, eight of whom 

 were natives of the countries in which they 

 were laboring, twenty-seven assistant mission- 

 aries from the United States, and sixteen native 

 helpers, or seventy laborers in all. Sixteen 

 principal stations had been established, of 

 which six were in the Indian country of the 

 United States, one in Mexico, two in the 

 United States of Colombia, two in Brazil, one 

 in Italy, two in Greece, and one in China. 

 Each of these stations was occupied by one or 

 more ordained ministers. There were besides 

 between fifteen and twenty out-stations where 

 stated preaching was maintained, and ten 

 schools of various grades, with upward of four 

 hundred pupils. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in the United States met at St. Louis, 

 Mo., May 20th. The Eev. M. D. Hoge, D. D., 

 of Virginia, was chosen moderator. The com- 

 mittee who had been appointed to confer with 

 a committee of the Reformed Church of Amer- 

 ica with reference to a plan for the coopera- 

 tion of the two bodies in certain departments 

 of the work of missions and publication, re- 

 ported that a conference of the two commit- 

 tees had been held in the city of New York, 

 January 15th, and that a plan of cooperation 

 had been agreed upon. The plan was laid be- 



fore the Assembly, and recommended for adop- 

 tion. The committee who had been appointed 

 at the previous meeting of the General Assem- 

 bly "to meet with the committee appointed 

 by the Northern General Assembly, and enter 

 fully into conference concerning the removal 

 of those causes which have heretofore pre- 

 vented fraternal relations between the two 

 Churches," reported a full minute of the pro- 

 ceedings of the joint meeting of the commit- 

 tees held at Baltimore, June 27th. The con- 

 ference had failed to accomplish the object for 

 which it met. The committee were discharged, 

 and the Assembly ordered the following min- 

 nuto to be made : 



This Assembly, in the name of the whole Church, 

 tenders special thanks to the committee of confer- 

 ence for the diligence, fidelity, and Christian pru- 

 dence, with which they have discharged the delicate 

 and important trust committed to them, and, while 

 regretting the failure of the conference as to its chief 

 end, hereby approves in general the course of the 

 committee, and, in particular, approves and indorses, 

 as satisfactory to the Southern Church, the condition 

 precedent to fraternal relations suggested by our 

 committee, viz. : " If your Assembly could see its 

 way clear to say in a few plain words to this effect 

 that these obnoxious things were said and done in 

 times of great excitement, and are to be regretted, 

 and that now, in a calm review, the imputations cast 

 upon the Southern.' Church, of schism, heresy, and 

 blasphemy, are disapproved that would end the 

 difficulty at once." 



The subject of the proposed Federal Union 

 of the Presbyterian Churches of the World 

 was carefully considered and discussed. A 

 " Committee on Confederation of the Presby- 

 terian Churches of the World " was appoint- 

 ed, with authority to correspond with similar 

 committees of other Presbyterian bodies in 

 reference to the constitution to be proposed in 

 the contemplated General Council, and, if they 

 (the committee) should deem it wise and prac- 

 ticable, to appoint delegates to the proposed 

 Conference to be held in London, July 21, 1875. 

 The committee decided in favor of sending 

 delegates to the Conference, and appointed as 

 such the Rev. Dr. Stuart Robinson, the Rev. 

 Dr. J. A. Lefevre, and the Rev. Dr. M. D. Hoge. 

 The following resolution was passed, and the 

 committee contemplated by it was appointed : 



. Whereas, The General Assembly of the Presby- 

 terian Church, in the United States, did at its first 

 organization in 1861, and also at various times since, 

 finally and distinctly declare its conviction as to the 

 nature and function of the Church of the Lord Jesus 

 Christ, especially as to its non-secular and non-po- 

 litical character ; and 



Whereas, Notwithstanding this it maybe that cer- 

 tain expressions have been inadvertently admitted 

 into some of the papers on our records, which it is 

 alleged are inconsistent with the well-considered 

 and formal views aforesaid : therefore 



Resolved, That this subject be referred to a com- 

 mittee of three whose duty it shall be to make a 

 careful examination, and make a report to the next 

 General Assembly, to the end that no vestige of 

 anything inconsistent with the clearly-defined posi- 

 tion of our Assemblies may be left to impair the 

 testimony of our Church upon this vital point. 



A committee was appointed to take "into 



