MORAVIANS. 



MOROCCO. 



Mfl 



active ministers and four retired ministers had 

 died urn. >n- tin-in Mi-hops David Hitler and 

 Samuel Kcinkc. the latter the oldest bishop in 

 the American Province. There were now 63 

 ministers in active service, of whom 53 had pas- 

 toral charges, while the others were connected 

 with educational establishments or engaged in 

 ofiicial duties for the Church. The regular 

 churches were 27 in number, of which a few 

 still had to receive help from the sustentation 

 fund in the support of their pastors. The 

 home-mission churches comprised 85 congre- 

 gations. Six new churches had been organ- 

 ized within the three years. More than 900 

 communicants and a total of 1,300 members 

 (communicants and non-communicants) had 

 been added to the churches. An average of 

 $3,100 a year had been spent in the support 

 of home missionaries, and an average of $3,666 

 a year for the building of churches and par- 

 sonages for home-missions. Adding these 

 items, and making a suitable allowance for 

 other expenses connected with the work, it 

 was found that the average total cost of home- 

 missions, or church extension, per annum, had 

 been $7,000. The theological seminary had 

 81 students, more than it had ever had before. 

 A salutatory letter was received from the Pro- 

 vincial Elders' Conference of the Southern 

 Province. It spoke of the possibility of the 

 union of the two districts, which, it said, al- 

 though not as yet joined in organic union, 

 "are as one in many respects." No advance 

 toward a merging of the two districts could 

 be reported at this time, for the reason that no 

 regular Provincial District Synod of the South- 

 ern District had been in session since the meet- 

 ing of the Northern District Synod in 1873. 



The synod expressed approval of the course 

 of the United States Centennial Commission 

 in closing the International Exhibition, at 

 Philadelphia, on Sundays. It was ordered 

 that " in future no church which is not self- 

 supporting shall be entitled to lay representa- 

 tion at provincial synods." A plan was adopt- 

 ed for the revival of the system of classes. It 

 provides that the pastors and elders of congre- 

 gations shall divide their people into classes, 

 the distinctive idea of which shall be fellow- 

 ship in the Christian experience and in the 

 work for souls; that while liberty is used, at- 

 tempts shall be made to secure uniformity 

 atnong the several congregations ; that mem- 

 bers of the congregations shall be chosen to act 

 as superintendents of the classes, and special 

 stress shall be laid on personal prayer and 

 labor by the members of the same. The sub- 

 ject of a change in the basis of representation 

 in the provincial synods was referred to a spe- 

 cial committee, under instructions to mature a 

 plan to be presented to the synod of 1879. 

 The synod recommended the election in all the 

 congregations of a board of elders, separate 

 from the board of trustees, who shall be sol- 

 emnly installed in their office by the pastor, 

 while the congregation shall be instructed to 



show all due respect to their labors. Thu 

 opH were instructed to prepare a circulnr 

 t.-tining the teachings of Scripture and tin- 

 Church on the subject of the eldership. Mem- 

 bers of the Church were appealed to "to ab- 

 stain from all amusements which interfere with 

 a personal devotion to Christ." A four yean*' 

 course of study, or reading, was adopted for 

 men who may wish to enter the ministry of 

 the Church, but are not able to acquire the 

 necessary education except by private effort. 

 Candidates may be licensed to preach while 

 pursuing the course, but cannot be ordained ex- 

 cept upon examination. Commemorative ser- 

 vices appropriate to the Centennial year were 

 appointed to be held in the churches on the 

 Sunday before the 4th of July, 1876. The 

 president of the synod wes requested, in his 

 communication to the Unity's Elders' Confer- 

 ence, to express the desire that the next Gen- 

 eral Synod may be convened at such a time as 

 shall enable this Province to make its next 

 Provincial Synod a preparatory synod. 



The annual meeting of the Society for the 

 Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen 

 was held at Bethlehem, Pn., August 24th. The 

 Rev. Robert de Schweinitz presided. In his 

 address he called attention to the fact that, al- 

 though eleven years were yet wanting to com- 

 Elete the first century of the existence of the 

 ociety, this was nevertheless its one hundredth 

 general meeting. The Board of Directors re- 

 ported that $11,500 had been given to the 

 general mission-fund. The treasurer reported 

 that the total assets of the Society amounted 

 to $217,758.25. The contributions of members 

 during the year had amounted to only $61.22, 

 or half of what should have been collected. 

 The Society had 225 members. Reports were 

 made concerning the Indian missions in Canada 

 and Kansas. 



The entire field in which the Moravian mis- 

 sionaries are engaged is divided into sixteen 

 provinces, viz. : Greenland, Labrador, the In- 

 dians of North America, the islands of St. 

 Thomas and St. Johns, St. Croix, Jamaica, An- 

 tigua, St. Kitts, Barbadoes. and Tobago, in the 

 West Indies, the Mosquito Coast, Surinam, the 

 western part of South Africa, the eastern 

 part of South Africa, Australia, and Western 

 Himalaya. In these sixteen provinces there 

 were, according to the report of the mis- 

 sion department of the Unity's Elders' Con- 

 ference for 1876, 94 mission-stations and 15 

 preaching - places. There were engaged in 

 these missions 154 brethren and 144 sisters as 

 missionaries, besides a large number of native 

 assistants. The total number of communicants 

 reported was 22,051, and the whole number of 

 souls under the spiritual care of the mission- 

 aries was upward of 67,000. During 1875, 

 876 adults and 2,228 children had been bap- 

 tized, and 1,141 persons confirmed. 



MOROCCO, an empire of Northern Africa. 

 Sultan, Muley Hassan ; succeeded his father in 

 1878. Owing to the indefiniteness of the 



