648 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



join -with them in Christian fellowship, and in ad- 

 vancing the cause of the Redeemer on the general 

 principle maintained and taught in the Reformed 

 Confession, that the Church of God on earth, though 

 composed of many members, is one body in the 

 Communion of the Holy Ghost, of which body Christ 

 is the Supreme Head, and the Scriptures alone the 

 infallible law. 



1. DESIGNATION. This Alliance shall be known as 

 " The Alliance of the Reformed Churches through- 

 out the world holding the Presbyterian system." 



II. MEMBERSHIP. Any church organized on Pres- 

 byterian principles which holds the supreme author- 

 ity of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 

 in matters of faith and morals, and whose creed is 

 in harmony with the Consensus of the Reformed 

 Confessions, shall be eligible for admission into the 

 Alliance. 



III. THE COUNCIL. 1. Its Meetings. The Alliance 

 shall meet in General Council ordinarily once in 

 three years. 



2. Its Constituency^ The Council shall consist of 

 delegates being ministers and ruling elders appoined 

 by the churches forming the Alliance, the number 

 from each church being regulated by a plan sanc- 

 tioned by the Council, regard being had generally to 

 the number of congregations in the several churches. 

 The delegates, as tar as practicable, to consist of an 

 equal number of ministers and ruling elders. The 

 Council may, on a recommendation of a committee 

 on business, invite Presbyterian brethren not dele- 

 gates to offer suggestions, to deliver addresses, and 

 to read papers. 



3. Its Powers. The Council shall have power to 

 decide upon the applications of churches desiring to 

 join the Alliance 5 it shall have the power to enter- 

 tain and consider topics which may be brought be- 

 fore it by any church represented in the Council, or 

 by any member of the Council, on their being trans- 

 mitted in the manner hereinafter provided ; but it 

 shall not interfere with the existing creed or consti- 

 tution of any church in the Alliance, or with its in- 

 ternal order or external relations. 



4. Its Objects. The Council shall consider ques- 

 tions of general interest to the Presbyterian commu- 

 nity ; it shall seek the welfare of churches, especially 

 such as are weak or persecuted ; it shall gather and 

 disseminate information concerning the kingdom of 

 Christ throughout the world ; it shall commend the 

 Presbyterian system as Scriptural, and as combining 

 simplicity, efficiency, and adaptation to all times 

 and conditions; it shall also entertain all subjects 

 directly connected with the work of evangelization, 

 such as the relation of the Christian 'Church to the 

 evangelization of the world, the distribution of mis- 

 sion-work, the combination of church energies, 

 especially in reference to great cities and destitute 

 districts ; the training of ministers ; the use of the 

 press ; colportage ; the religious instruction of the 

 young; the sanctittcation of the Sabbath; systematic 

 beneficence; the suppression of intemperance and 

 other prevailing vices ; and the best method of op- 

 posing infidelity and Romanism. 



5. Its Methods. The Council shall seek to guide 

 and stimulate public sentiment by papers read, by 

 addresses delivered and published, by the circula- 

 tion of information respecting the allied churches 

 and their missions, by the exposition of Scriptural 

 principles and by defenses of the truth, by commu- 

 nicating the minutes of its proceedings to the su- 

 preme courts of the churches forming the Alliance, 

 and by such other action as is in accordance with its 

 constitution and objects. 



6. Committee on business. The Council at each 

 general meeting shall appoint a Committee on Busi- 

 ness, through which all commissions and notices of 

 subjects proposed to be discussed shall pass. The 

 committee appointed at one general meeting shall 



act provisionally so far as is necessary in preparing 

 for the following meeting. 



IV. CHANGE OF CONSTITUTION. No change shall 

 be made in this constitution except on a motion 

 made at one general meeting of Council, not pbiected 

 to by a majority of the churches, and carried by a 

 two-thirds vote at the next general meeting. 



The first meeting of the Council was appoint- 

 ed to be held at Edinburgh on the first Tuesday 

 in July, 1876. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 2 he Protestant JE/piscopal Almanac and Direc- 

 tory for 1876 gives the following statistics of 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 

 States, China, Japan, and Africa, for 1874-'75 : 



Number of bishops, 57 ; of bishops-elect, 3 ; 

 of priests and deacons, 3,122 ; of baptisms, 

 38,053 ; of candidates for orders, 298 ; of or- 



