PRESBYTERIANS. 



693 



of the Board during the ensuing year. The 

 Board had the direction of missions among 

 seven Indian tribes of the United States. In 

 Mexico there are 5 stations and several out- 

 stations ; in the United States of Colombia, 1 

 station ; in Brazil, 8 stations and several out- 

 stations; in Chili, 4 stations; in Liberia and 

 the Gaboon and Corisco in Africa, 11 stations 

 and 4 out-stations ; in Lodiana, Furrukhabad, 

 and Kolapoor, in India, 18 stations and 17 out- 

 stations ; in Siam and Laos, 4 stations ; in Can- 

 ton, Ningpo, Shantung, and Peking, in China, 

 10 stations and several out-stations; among 

 the Chinese in California, 2 stations ; in Japan, 

 2 stations ; in Persia, 3 stations and 81 out-sta- 

 tions ; and in Syria, 5 stations and 43 out-sta- 

 tions. Connected with these missions were 124 

 American and 55 native missionaries, 109 na- 

 tive licentiates, and 190 American and 484 na- 

 tive lay missionaries. The whole number of 

 communicants was 10,391, distributed among 

 the missions as follows: North American In- 

 dian, 1,348 ; Mexican, 2,619 ; South American, 

 977; African, 624; Indian, 802 ; Siamese, 123 ; 

 Japanese, 477; Chinese, 1,623; Persian, 1,134; 

 Syrian, 664. The total number of scholars in 

 the boarding and day schools was 15,906, viz. : 

 among the Indian tribes, 452 ; in Mexico, 295 ; 

 in South America, 475 ; in Africa, 211 ; in In- 

 dia, 8,136 ; in Siam, 287 ; in China, 630 ; among 

 the Chinese in California, 157; in Japan, 238 ; 

 in Persia 1,242; in Syria, 4,019. 



The nineteenth General Assembly of the Pres- 

 .byterian Church in the United States of Amer- 

 ica met at Pittsburg, Pa., May 16th. The Rev. 

 Francis L. Patton, D. D., was chosen Moder- 

 ator. The Assembly met in the church in 

 which the reunion of the Old School and New 

 School branches of the Presbyterian Church 

 was consummated in 1869 ; and the opening 

 day of the session was signalized by the un- 

 veiling of a memorial tablet in the building in 

 honor of the event, in which the members of the 

 Assembly took part. Among the most impor- 

 tant subjects which engaged the attention of the 

 Assembly were three cases of appeal from the 

 decisions of the lower courts on questions in- 

 volving the doctrine, usages, and discipline of 

 the Church. 



The Rev. Isaac M. See, of Newark, N. J., 

 having permitted a woman to preach and teach 

 in his church, had been tried by the Presby- 

 tery of Newark for an offense against the Scrip- 

 tures and against the order and discipline of 

 the Church, and for having made statements 

 of erroneous views in defense of his action. 

 The Presbytery declared that his conduct might 

 open the way to disorder and mischief, and ad- 

 monished him to abstain from it in the future. 

 It also admonished him that his view on the sub- 

 ject contained, in its judgment, "the germs of 

 destructive errors." He appealed from this de- 

 cision to the Synod of New Jersey. The Synod 

 having given a decision sustaining the Presbyte- 

 ry, he appealed to the General Assembly. This 

 body also refused to sustain his appeal. The 



minute in which the decision was entered upon 

 the record contained an explanation that u the 

 Assembly finds great pleasure in calling atten- 

 tion to the enlarging efforts and the growing 

 influence of the women of the Presbyterian 

 Church, in the work committed to the denom- 

 ination ; and points with peculiar satisfaction 

 and emphatic approbation to the noble record 

 to which these women are daily adding by 

 their efficiency and devotion." 



The Rev. John Miller, of the Presbytery of 

 New Brunswick, N. J., had been tried by his 

 Synod for heresy for having published, 'in a 

 book entitled "Questions awakened by the 

 Bible," the doctrines that the soul is not im- 

 mortal, that Christ as a child of Adam was 

 personally accounted guilty of Adam's sin, and 

 like other children of Adam inherited a corrupt 

 nature, and expressed a dinial of the doctrine 

 of the Trinity ; and he was suspended from the 

 ministry of the church until he should make a 

 satisfactory renunciation of his alleged errors, 

 and should promise no longer to proclaim them. 

 The Synod of New Jersey, to which he ap- 

 pealed, having sustained the Presbytery, he ap- 

 pealed to the General Assembly. The decision 

 of the Assembly was given against Mr. Miller 

 and in favor of the Presbytery and the Synod, 

 and a minute recording the decision was en- 

 tered, in which the Assembly, while urging 

 upon all fidelity to the doctrinal standards, em- 

 bodied the advice to every one who might en- 

 tertain views irreconcilable with its standards 

 " to take the authorized course after consulta- 

 tion with his Presbytery, and peacefully with- 

 draw from the ministry of our Church." 



The Rev. W. 0. McCune, of the Presbytery 

 of Cincinnati, was charged before his Presby- 

 tery with having engaged actively in promoting 

 and cooperating with a so-called "Christian 

 Union " organization, or a church having the 

 obliterating or ignoring of denominational lines 

 as one of its principles; with having taught 

 that denominational organizations requiring the 

 assent of ministers to fixed creeds were sinful ; 

 and with having claimed to be a minister of 

 the Presbyterian Church while at the same 

 time serving as a minister in a separate " un- 

 denominational" church. The Presbytery ac- 

 quitted him of the charges, and gave him letters 

 of dismissal as a sound and faithful minister. 

 The prosecutors carried the case to the Synod, 

 which sustained the Presbytery, whereupon 

 an appeal was taken to the General Assembly. 

 The Assembly decided in favor of the prosecu- 

 tors, affirming that the charges against Mr. 

 McCune had been proved, that the Presbytery 

 had erred in not sustaining the charges, in not 

 reprimanding Mr. McCune for his unsound 

 statements and his disloyal action, and in dis- 

 missing him to another denomination as in 

 good standing ; and that the Synod had erred 

 in refusing to sustain the complaint against the 

 Presbytery for its action. 



A modification of the constitution of the sus- 

 tentation department of the Board of Home 



