674 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



the church. The synod had ordered them re- 

 moved. The Assembly, on appeal, confirmed 

 th order of the synod. 



(ft.) Free Church of Scotland. The Gen- 

 eral Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland 

 met at Edinburgh, May 18th. Dr. Thomas 

 McLaughlan, of Edinburgh, was chosen mod- 

 erator. Report was made that the sum of 

 70,357" had been raised for foreign missions, 

 and 5,191 for the conversion of the Jews. 

 The report of the colleges made mention of a 

 bequest of 13,000, a gift of 8,000, of the 

 raising of 10,000 toward a fourth chair in 

 Aberdeen College, and of a legacy of 17,000 

 to the new college. The total amount of funds 

 raised for Church purposes during the year had 

 been 534,450 10s. Qd. A motion was adopted 

 by an overwhelming majority, to the effect that 

 nothing in recent legislation has altered the 

 attitude of the State to the Church which led 

 to the disruption; that the Free Church should 

 not be moved from the ground which it had 

 taken, etc. On the 25th of May the Synod of 

 the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scot- 

 land, consisting of 36 ministers and 34 elders, 

 came into the Assembly, with its moderator at 

 its head, and the union of the two bodies was 

 formally consummated. 



(c.} Reformed Presbyterian Church. The 

 Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

 in Scotland met at Glasgow, March 13th. The 

 Rev. David Taylor, of Glasgow, was chosen 

 moderator. The statistical reports showed that 

 the Church included 42 congregations, with 

 7,500 members, and that its annual contribu- 

 tions amounted to about 14,000. The synod, 

 by a vote of 57 to 6, adopted a resolution in 

 favor of union with the Free Church. This 

 resolution, having received the approval of the 

 presbyteries and synods, had now become the 

 resolution of the Church. The Committee on 

 Union was reappointed to carry the negotia- 

 tions to a conclusion. The union with the 

 Free Church was finally consummated in the 

 General Assembly of that body, May 25th. 



(d.) Reformed Presbyterian Synod. The Re- 

 formed Presbyterian Synod of Scotland met in 

 Glasgow, May 8th. The Rev. Robert Wallace 

 was chosen moderator. His address was upon 

 the duties devolving on covenanted witness. 

 He spoke of the Church over whose synod he 

 was moderator as the true Reformed Presby- 

 terian Church of Scotland. The Church called 

 Reformed Presbyterian, which was about to 

 become amalgamated with the Free Church, 

 had no proper claim to the designation Re- 

 formed Presbyterian. That Church had been 

 for a number of years violating many of the dis- 

 tinctive principles and practices of the Re- 

 formed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The 

 business of the synod was of a routine char- 

 acter. 



(e.) United Presbyterian Church. The fol- 

 lowing are the statistics of the United Presby- 

 terian Church, as reported in May, 1876 : Num- 

 ber of congregations, 620; of elders, 5,075; 



members, 190,242 ; Sunday-school teachers, 

 12,129; Sunday-school scholars, 92,502 ; aver- 

 age Sunday attendance on church, 85,000. The 

 total income for 1875 was 419,965. 



The General Synod of the United Presbyte- 

 rian Church (Scotland) met in Edinburgh, May 

 llth. The Rev. John Rankine was chosen 

 moderator. The synod, by a vote of 373 to 

 45, gave its sanction to the union of the United 

 Presbyterian Church in England with the Eng- 

 lish Presbyterian Church. An animated de- 

 bate took place on the question of Disestab- 

 lishment, at the end of which the synod re- 

 solved to issue a pastoral letter advocating a sev- 

 erance between the Church and the State. The 

 attention of the synod was called to the case 

 of the proposed monument to Thomas Gilles- 

 pie in the churchyard of the Abbey of Dun- 

 fermline. It was intended to inscribe upon the 

 monument a record of Mr. Gillespie's expul- 

 sion and deposition by the General Assembly 

 of the Established Church of Scotland, but the 

 Government had refused to allow the word 

 " deposed " to be used. A resolution was 

 passed, declaring " that the synod hear with 

 surprise and regret of her Majesty's Board of 

 Works' refusal, and remit it to the Disestab- 

 lishment Committee to cooperate with the 

 United Presbyterian Presbytery of Dunforin- 

 line, with power to memorialize the Govern- 

 ment in regard to the matter." 



VII. PfiESfeYTEEIAN CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 



The fortieth meeting of the Synod of the Pres- 

 byterian Church in England was held in Liver- 

 pool, beginning May 1st. The Rev. Dr. J. 

 Oswald Dykes was chosen moderator. The 

 statistical report showed that the number of 

 communicant members of the Church was 29,- 

 045 1,963 more than the number reported the 

 previous year. The total amount of receipts 

 for the year had been 98,484, and the total 

 amount paid as stipends for the year had been 

 38,069. The total income for home missions 

 had been 2,133. Seven new fields of labor 

 had been occupied. The expenditures of the 

 Foreign Mission Committee for the year had 

 been 8,268, or 505 in excess of the income. 

 The committee had twelve missionaries in 

 China, besides three who were at home for 

 rest, fifty-six native evangelists, and twenty- 

 three students. The mission-stations were at 

 Amoy, Swatow, and the island of Formosa. 

 A motion for the immediate consummation of 

 the union with the United Presbyterian con- 

 gregations in England wns carried, with only 

 two dissentient votes. The Union Committee 

 was reappointed to arrange for the reunion on 

 the 13th of June. 



The synod reassembled in Liverpool, June 

 13th, to perfect the union with the United 

 Presbyterian Synod. The latter body met at 

 the same time in a neighboring church in the 

 same city. After transacting some routine 

 business in each court, including the approval 

 of the basis of union, the members of the two 

 bodies marched in procession to Philharmonic 





